Ballet Shoes
Ballet Shoes is a 2007 British television film, adapted by Heidi Thomas from Noel Streatfeild's 1936 novel Ballet Shoes. It was produced by Granada Productions (formerly Granada Television) and premiered on BBC One on 26 December 2007. It is directed by Sandra Goldbacher. A previous adaptation of Ballet Shoes was produced in serial format by the BBC in 1975 and directed by Timothy Combe. Plot A young orphan, Sylvia Brown, and her nurse Nana come to live at her great-uncle Matthew (Gum) 's house in London. He is a paleontologist and is reluctant to take her in, but relents when he learns that he is her only living relative. Gum is away a lot on travels collecting fossils, but he sends Sylvia letters and presents and she learns to love him. It is 1919. Sylvia is now grown up. Gum brings her back an orphaned baby girl, who has been rescued from a shipwreck. He names her Pauline Fossil. Sylvia and Nana reluctantly take her in. Two years later, in 1921, Gum brings back another orphan, a Russian baby girl called Petrova. In 1923, Gum sends a third baby, Posy, with ballet shoes that her mother owned and necklaces for the three girls. He also left some money in the bank for Sylvia, enough to last five years. That is the last the family hears of him. Pauline and Petrova go to school at Cromwell House, but Sylvia (called "Garnie" by the girls, short for Guardian) can't afford to send Posy. As Gum's money runs out, Garnie has to take out Pauline and Petrova out of school. When the money runs out completely, she takes in four boarders to live in the house: Theo Dane, a dancer, John Simpson, who works with cars, and Dr Smith and Dr Jakes, who are retired academics. Pauline, Petrova and Posy are inspired by the professors to "put their names in the history books" giving service to their country. They vow to do that, and repeat the vow every Christmas and birthday. Theo convinces Garnie to let the girls train at The Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training, a stage school. Garnie is reluctant at first but then is happy that the girls are getting trained to earn a living. Meanwhile, Smith and Jakes start to teach Pauline, Petrova, and Posy.The girls become very busy. Soon Pauline is old enough to act on stage and audition for the role of Alice in "Alice in Wonderland". She loans Gum's necklaces to Mr Simpson for money for a frock to wear, and will pay him back with her wages. Pauline gets the part, and does very well as Alice. She gives thirty shillings to Garnie for housekeeping money. But Pauline starts to get proud and is rude to Winifred, her understudy. Pauline ends up losing her temper at Mr French, the director, and since she's been disobedient she loses her part to Winifred. Posy, noticed by Madame Fidolia, the owner of the school, is very talented at ballet. Madame Fidolia now teaches her classical ballet only. However Petrova hates dancing and would much rather work with cars and fly planes. She and Mr Simpson become very good friends. Garnie starts to fall in love with Mr Simpson. She has bad lungs and her health starts worsening. Petrova is worried for her. Petrova and Pauline audition for roles as fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Petrova does very badly, but she is engaged since nobody else auditions for her role. Pauline is engaged too. Petrova does not do well at the rehearsals, and is almost sacked. She doesn't like acting but does it for the money. When A Midsummer Night's Dream comes off, Pauline wants to audition with Petrova for another play, but Petrova warns her to stop making her go on stage. The girls and Garnie go camping to help with Garnie's health. Mr Simpson comes to tell them that Pauline will be auditioning for a movie, Charles In Exile. She gets the part, but finds film acting difficult and doesn't like it. After the filming, Pauline and Petrova play in a pantomime of Cinderella. Even with the money from the film and play, Garnie can't afford to keep their house, and sells it. Posy is brought to see Valentin Manoff's ballet by Madame Fidolia. Posy wants to go to his ballet school in Czechoslovakia. Madame gets a stroke and is paralysed, and Posy is devastated. Charles in Exile is a hit and Pauline has been discovered. She is offered a contract for five years in Hollywood, but she isn't sure that she should take it. Posy runs away to Manoff's ballet. She dances for him and he wants to teach her. Pauline signs the contract so that Posy can go to Czechoslovakia with Nana, and Garnie will go to Hollywood with her. Unexpectedly, Gum comes back, and agrees to teach Petrova to fly planes. The movie ends with Pauline and Posy vowing to get Petrova into the history books, while Petrova flys over Garnie and Mr Simpson's wedding. Cast *Emma Watson as Pauline Fossil *Yasmin Paige as Petrova Fossil *Lucy Boynton as Posy Fossil *Richard Griffiths as Great Uncle Matthew (Gum) *Victoria Wood as Nana *Emilia Fox as Sylvia Brown *Eileen Atkins as Madame Fidolia *Peter Bowles as Sir Donald Houghton *Marc Warren as Mr John Simpson *Harriet Walter as Dr Smith *Gemma Jones as Dr Jakes *Lucy Cohu as Theo Dane *Heather Nicol as Winifred Bagnall *Mary Stockley as Miss Jay *Skye Bennett as a young Sylvia *Don Gallagher as Mr French *Lucie Watson as a younger Pauline Fossil. *Annabella Anderson as a Pauline Fossil's friend *Nicolette Baker as young girl in red dress. *Adrian Lester as Mr Sholsky, a film director. Critical Reception As of 2013, the film holds a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Wayne Myers of The Oneida Daily Dispatch called it an "embraceable film of the sort that emerges more frequently from elsewhere nowadays than Hollywood", and praised the performances of Paige, Watson, Boynton and Nicol. Brian Orndorf writes that Emilia Fox as Sylvia "forms the spine of the story" and that Goldbacher "is cautious to silently weave the performance throughout the film to undercut any saccharine temptations." Betty Joe Tucker of ReelTalk Movie Reviews praised the way film evokes the 1930s. Gina Catanzarite, in a review for Parents' Choice, suggested that there may be too much plot material for the film's relatively short running time. Videos Category:Movies